OUR VIEW: Keep score when it comes to our greatest assets

On the theory that you don’t know how you’re doing if you don’t keep score, the Annie E. Casey Foundation has for years been keeping track of 16 statistical indicators of child well-being in all 50 states. The Kids Count Data Book it produces goes beyond the partisan rhetoric and interest-driven prescript...

The Herald News, Fall River, MA

Writer

Posted Jul. 8, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 8, 2013 at 8:23 AM

Posted Jul. 8, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 8, 2013 at 8:23 AM

» Social News

On the theory that you don’t know how you’re doing if you don’t keep score, the Annie E. Casey Foundation has for years been keeping track of 16 statistical indicators of child well-being in all 50 states. The Kids Count Data Book it produces goes beyond the partisan rhetoric and interest-driven prescriptions that too often limit public policy debates, focusing attention on measurable changes in the conditions affecting America’s children.

So how are we doing by our kids?

The latest update, using mostly data from 2011, shows the lingering impact of the recession of 2007-2008. Twenty-three percent of America’s children are living in poverty, up from 19 percent in 2005. The parents of 32 percent of America’s children lack secure employment, compared to 27 percent in 2008. And 40 percent of children live in households in which high housing costs are a burden.

The national education scores show slight improvement, but more than half of preschool age children don’t attend preschool, 68 percent of fourth-graders aren’t proficient in reading and 66 percent aren’t proficient in math.

Health measures show improvement as well, with 7 percent of children lacking health insurance, down from 10 percent in 2008 and small reductions in low-birthweight babies, child and teen deaths and teen drug abuse. But more kids — 35 percent — are living in single-parent families and 12 percent live in high poverty areas.

Massachusetts does well by comparison, ranking third among the states overall. We’re number one in education, showing improvement in all four categories. Still, half of all students don’t meet the proficiency standards in reading and math, 41 percent don’t attend preschool, and 17 percent of high schoolers don’t graduate on time.

Massachusetts ranks 11th in health measures, with just 2 percent of children uninsured. Strong declines have been recorded in the teen birth rate, but we aren’t doing as good a job as many other states in reducing teen alcohol and drug use.

As across the nation, the biggest challenge for Massachusetts is in economic well-being, with 15 percent of Bay State kids living in poverty, 30 percent living with parents whose jobs aren’t secure and 41 percent in families burdened by the high cost of housing.

Some of these indicators are responsive to public policy initiatives. In education especially, the investments Massachusetts made in public schools in the 1990s have paid off in student performance. But on economic measures, these grades reflect the obvious: Children are better off when their parents have stable jobs and can afford to maintain a decent standard of living.

We need to do better by America’s children, and we need to keep keeping score.